Sometimes It Is The Destination
June 3, 2006
As we traverse the web of life, many paths present themselves for our consideration. Sometimes we know, before the choice is even available, what direction we are going to head in. Other times it takes a little consideration… a weighing of the options… some back and forth… and a dash of compromise before we can choose a road to follow. Many times there are multiple routes to the same location: one long and scenic with benefits of the personal type, the other a more direct, short path that leads unquestionably to the destination in mind without scenery or distraction. Deciding which road to take is one of life’s “biggies”.
But choosing a path to follow is only the first step. Even after we know where we want to go, and how we’re going to get there, we still have to make the journey. Obstacles to dodge… detours to decipher…and even fellow travelers can all impede our trip. It’s possible to get thrown so off track that the original destination is all but forgotten in the blur of distractions and course corrections. Many times we have to pull the map out, retrace our steps, and figure out where we lost our way before we can put a finger on just what the end result was supposed to be before we veered into another trip altogether.
No matter how much planning we do, how many itineraries we make, or how many course alterations we plan for, it’s not always enough to prevent a dead end. Not all dead ends are necessarily a bad thing. Many times there is still enough space on the road to turn around and head back in search of an alternate route. But sometimes we go so far down the dead end road that the curb closes in slowly around us and leaves us no room to turn around… until there are but two options: accept the current location as our new destination and make due… or keep going through the wall that blocks our path, making a mess on the way and tearing the crap out of the world around us with the hope that we’ll eventually hit another road.
I’m finding myself more and more at one of these dead ends. For the last several months I’ve been trying desperately to plan a new route for myself. I’ve been searching for an exit off of the seemingly endless road I’ve been traveling for the last few years. I’ve passed numerous exits up in the past and gone from a six-lane freeway to a dirt road barely wide enough for my car to fit on. And now, just as I see an exit on the horizon, yet another wall has been thrown up in front of me. I can see the exit fading away in the vibrations of the heat off of the road as I sit and stare blindly at the newest wall. The front of my car is almost unrecognizable from the numerous dead ends I’ve slammed full-force into over the years. I’m not even sure I could make it through this recent wall if I wanted to.
How do you decide whether or not to crash through another obstacle? How do you decide if it’s worth it? And how do you predict what kind of road you’ll find yourself on once the barricade is knocked down? I don’t guess you really can. How do you fix the damage that’s done to your vehicle and to the world around you because you just weren’t happy with where your journey has taken you? And when it involves other people, is it selfish to consider only your own path and say to hell with the adjoining paths of others?
Normally I’d tell someone else to be selfish and forge ahead on their own path. But sometimes I have a hard time taking my own advice. I never say it’s easy to be selfish. And I don’t think the road beyond the wall will be free of obstacles all it’s own. But sometimes I have to wonder if it’s not worth the risk. If you don’t end up worse off than you already are, is there any harm in giving it a shot?
Posted in Human Nature, Noteworthy, Personal, Questions
June 29th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
[...] When you honestly stop and look at the world and the life we’re given to live, you realize that there are so few things out there that are truly under our control. It’s almost disheartening when you really stop and think about it. Sure… opportunities abound for the willing. If you set your mind to something, you can do almost anything. But even then… the world will throw every obstacle and every roadblock in your way that it can muster. It’s hard to keep plowing ahead to make life bend to your will. Some folks give up and surrender to the forces of nature. [...]
June 29th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
[...] Sometimes It Is The Destination [...]